Billy Gilmour Is Ready For Scotland Senior Side

When lockdown finishes and football can resume safely, The Tartan Army will focus on trying to finally qualify for another major tournament.

Scotland are potentially just two play-off games away from reaching next summer’s Euros.

Those ties should have already taken place and the Championships should be starting next month but unfortunately the COVID-19 has put paid to all that.

That hold up could work out as an advantage for Steve Clarke as it will give him more time to ponder including young Billy Gilmour into his senior set-up before we face Israel in that all important first play-off game.

Many a Scotland fan was calling for the highly rated teenager’s selection before it was decided he should stick it out with the Under-21s for a little while longer.

But as England look to finish the current Premier League campaign, Gilmour and his Chelsea teammates may be playing again before the next Scottish footballing season starts. That will give the eighteen year old more precious minutes to improve as a player and impress his international manager.

Now I am in no doubt Clarke is already impressed with Billy, everyone in the footballing world has been impressed with the young man’s composure, passing ability and all round attitude since he broke into the Chelsea first team earlier this year.

It was all about timing when it came to Scotland.

There’ was no need to rush him into the international fray as we’ve got a good selection of central midfielders to select from. It seemed right to let those players that got us to the play-offs get the chance to get us over that final hurdle.

Yet I am also convinced that the plan would’ve then been to promote Billy Gilmour up into the senior squad.

The pandemic has halted those play-offs but it shouldn’t halt the midfielder’s progression into our top team, especially if he keeps his place in the Chelsea starting line-up.

Former midfielders turned pundits like Jamie Redknapp, Graeme Souness and Roy Keane have raved about Billy’s performances against Liverpool and Everton before football was put on hold.

“Billy has given me as much pleasure as anyone. When you look at Billy, he can be quite slight in terms of his size, he’s quite quiet, young and polite, but then you train day-to-day with him through the season.

“He moved over to the first team quite a while ago to train because he just had to, because he just trained at such a level. If you have a possession in training, or a small game, just simple passing, whatever, you talk about having the attitude there and getting the basics right.”

“In the modern day it can get lost a bit, doing the basics right, and he does them day in, day out.”

His virtuoso performance against Liverpool and then his man of the match follow up against Everton, prove that he is a real star in the making and that he’s ready to meet the challenges of being a first team regular.

If Billy Gilmour can play more often than not with the London giants when football comes back, then Steve Clarke will have to select him for Scotland. We need all the talented players we can get and he’s a player with a huge amount of talent!